Friday, July 30, 2010

Josh and I ate at Famous Daves for dinner tonight. It was okay...it was no bbq from Elk City or anything, but it tried to be. Once in Detroit my car over heated 2 blocks from the wedding I was going to at a Famous Dave's and I had to go to the bathroom soooo bad that I went in there. We didn't know it was overheating that caused my car to stop running, we just knew that it stopped running. It wasn't until the next summer, or maybe even 2 summer's later that we figured it out. On the way down to Nashville.

Sometimes I miss my car and am always happy when I see other Ford Taurus's on the road.

Today, on the way into work, at the gate (yes, my parking lot is gated), some one had already opened it, so I sped up even faster than what I was going to get in, and then decided to keep the speed up and I took the short way to the back of the parking lot (it's technically, a one way, and I went the wrong way, but I looked first to make sure no one was coming or in the way, AND it's a very small very empty parking lot). When I got inside the security guard told me that the camera's have speed reading meters on them and that I was going too fast and as building policy he was going to have to give me a 25$ ticket! I was all "WHAT! This place never tells me the rules until it's too late!" Then Harrell stepped out of his hiding place and started laughing because it was all a joke! The security guard was super good at pulling it off though...it was the most believable thing I've heard from someone bs'ing.

Then I went into my office and my coffee mug and water cup were missing! I was sure it was Pick-On-Lindy Day and I couldn't find them at all. A coworker asked me if I checked the cealing because he sticks things up there in my office (I have a firetruck and a penguin up there). I already had and they weren't there. I knew I left them in my office bc I hadn't washed them the day before, and was going to do it first thing. Well I think the janitors had picked them up and washed them and left them in the dish drainer. They've never done that before and I don't know why they started now.

And yesterday as I was leaving work...in a hurry (which is why I didn't wash my cups), I stopped in the bathroom, and as I opened the stall door, I almost stepped on a large leggy spider. And before I stopped myself, I screamed, grabbed my stuff and ran out of there. Lots of people heard but not because I was terribly loud, but because the bathroom is echoes terribly. The other security guard went in there and killed it, which was very nice of him.

I spent some time this week learning about task management and organization and I'm pretty excited to start seeing how it works on Monday.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

1. Just Click Here And no it won't bring you to a music video of Rick Astley, I promise.
2. Go ghetto, drink Orange Kool-Aid and vodka - it's sorta like a screw driver!
3. Freak your cat out, put him in the bedroom and then remove the couch from the house
4. Read Pride and Prejudice and then watch the movie! Decide which character you are most like
5. MSG: The Flaaavaaa Enhancaaaa!
6. If you like good Adult Swim shows, watch Archer on Netflix play it now, now. If you don't like Adult Swim due to it's language, adult situations, and violence...don't watch Archer.
7. My truck is awesome... and it's attracted a Narcissistic bird that likes to smear poop all over the side mirrors. Yay.
8. Deep Impact is just like Armagedon, only it lacks action, a love story, and that funny scene in Armageddon where they ask to never pay taxes again.
9. Despite the fact that Deep Impact is clearly a 90's movie, Morgan Freeman plays the President...making it more relevant to today than you can imagine.
10. Deep Impact also has Frodo in it
11. If you fear the apocolypse (or hope for it!) I suggest you stock up on Slim-Rites. Trust me.

(Side note to the list here: Deep Impact for some reason unknown to Josh or I was at the top of our Netflix Que, and sent out to us by 8am the day after I mailed the old movies out...that's why we had it)

12. Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader and from Searchlight, Nevada. I've been there.
13. I prefer an older Robert Downey Jr. (Ironman) to the younger one from the 90's (Heart and Souls)
14. The movie Heart and Souls, which you should watch! definitely left an impression on me and I think about certain parts of it during specific situations and has influenced my life, and caused me to expect many things from life that did not actually happen. But that's fine...I never became a business woman and I did not marry a business man...and my expectations were based on a movie I saw when I was like 12. But it is a hilarious and heart warming movie...even if Robert Downey Jr. has 90's fluffy hair. It's on my list of Comfort Movies.
15. I've also always disliked Hugh Grant's fluffy hair from the 90's as well
16. I need a haircut or something
17. Ackbar trips out to Jimmy Hendrix and some other techno music too
18. Ackbar thinks he's all indifferent and "cool" but really he's kinda nerdy and not very good at being agile.
19. The Yarn Harlot is my favorite blog to read.
20. For dinner I had a fried egg, fried delicious potatoes, and a tomato.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

My mom called me today! I haven't talked to her in forever, and we caught up. I may have mentioned to her how sometimes I get very stressed out at home because there is always more to do, and I may have mentioned how Josh isn't always the most helpful when it comes to chores. Well I was WRONG. When I got home not only was the house clean(er), vacuumed, and the toilet washed, but the dishes were done!! And he wiped down the counters and stove the way I like it. I didn't even know he knew how to do that! All of this because I made him a sandwich this morning for his lunch. I'm only made it because 1. I'm his wife (wifes make sandwiches right?) 2. I leave 30 min. after him so I have time 3. He made my lunch all throughout grad school, it's really the least I can do. And I told him all that this morning, but he still cleaned. He's the best.

I've recently realized that even though it's been a year from when I finished my thesis, bought 2 used cars b/c mine died beyond repair and moved, all without a job, my stress levels have not gone down to where they were before grad school. That period I mentioned above I call "The Thesis" and it was the worst time of my life and I went crazy with the stress and anxiety. I thought if I relaxed for even one tiny little itty bitty moment I would forget EVERYTHING and have to start over. Oh and we would die because our lease was up, we had no car, and I didn't have a job. Well maybe not die but become lost in some black void without food or a bed. HA! That's right, I really was convinced we were going to have to sell our bed for food and I didn't think I could survive without my bed. I didn't remember that until right now because I blocked that period of time of my life. The only things I remember from April to July 3 was grilling outside for dinner every night, talking to Bob and Jacque, crying in front of Calvin that one time, the sound of Ayla's mouse clicking as she played Minesweeper, walking to the grad student office to turn in my thesis, and waking up more exhausted than when I went to bed bc of my acid reflux. I am still not sure if getting the Master's degree was worth it... ask me in 5 to 10 yrs.

We grilled because hotdogs are cheap and so I wouldn't have to be inside my apartment stressing because if I'm in there, I could be working.

I still feel that way sometimes. That if I'm home there is stuff to be done and if I don't remember to do it, if I don't think about how it needs to be done, if I don't ponder when it should be done, and then gather the energy to get Josh to help me with it then the black void will come back and we will probably die. Home does not relax me.

I thought making a list would help, and my mom told me I should do it. She has one. But a list wouldn't help (even though I do love them!) because things can get lost in a list. Just because it's on there doesn't mean I'll do it, and I still have to worry about when I will do it. Then my mom gave me the best suggestion of all...use a planner!!! If there's one thing I love more than lists, it's big fancy planners!!

So I stopped at Target on my way home and bought the one I loved best and didn't even look at the price. That was freedom right there, let me tell you. And now since I love it I'll be more likely to use it and not always wish I had the "better one" if I had gotten the cheap one like always. Anyways, this isn't a school or work planner, this is a life planner...so I needed one different than any other I've had before.

So there it is! Josh says it looks sort of Dutch. I love it. I even use a large bag/purse thing now because it's finally practical for me to due to my job, and it will fit in there perfectly! Right next to my umbrella.

As an interesting side note, the month before Josh and I moved to Nashville we were at Blissfest and I had my palm read. The girl looked at my hand and looked up at me and said "You don't need to worry so much!" and I was confused because at that exact moment in my life I was the most carefree, happy, and unstressed I have ever ever been. But now I know...she got it a little wrong...I was going to start worrying in the near future.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Josh and I helped pick up and move a couch today. We took the "back roads" the whole way, meaning no expressway. It was down in Franklin, and I thought I've been to Franklin before, but really I haven't. It was a beautiful drive full of the largest houses I've ever seen. Some of them were definitely old plantation houses and some were newer. Downtown Franklin was very nice and upscale with a lot of little boutique stores. I really liked it, but there was tons of people and families out walking around. Too many for me. I'm getting tired of strangers.

The drive was quite wonderful because it was just Josh and I and all the windows down in my truck (no AC), and the radio on. I love singing loudly in my truck! I even got to tease Josh b/c he was driving and I don't like how he drives my truck. There are always extra noises when he does so. OH and I did something super smart. He was holding his drink so he asked me to shift down, so I shifted it from third gear to second gear b/c that's shifting down. I didn't taking him literally, which I do a lot when people ask me things, and it gets me in trouble. Unfortunately, he was being literal and wanted me to physical move the shifter down to the fourth gear position. I felt so smart for doing it the other way... sort of like if I was able to get my left and right correct without having to think about it. Which I can't do.

The couch was on the second floor and we had to remove the door to get it out. But then when we got to it's new home, which was on the third floor, a very nice neighbor offered to help Josh carry it up, so I didn't have to help. I liked that!

Don't worry, this was for a friend, not for us! We do not need any more couches.

Let's see, yesterday we didn't do too much. We made lasagna from scratch with Josh's mom's recipe who got it from his Italian grandma. Josh boiled the sausage in the sauce for hours before I even got home. It's probably some of the best lasagna I've ever had. We even cleared off the table and ate at it with a cloth napkin and wine. I'm going to make the lasagna next and I'm going to boil bacon in the sauce and then lay that down with the noodles. I wanted to do it this time, but Josh was all about doing it authentic style. That's the problem with marrying an Italian really, we can only eat Italian food if it's superior...no going out to any old Italian restaurant, ever.

Tomorrow we are going to wake up early and help some friends (the one's who go the couch) move more of their stuff. I'm kind of excited because there will be donuts. Good ones. Also, I will be moving and exercising and working hard. I don't actually do much to feel like I accomplish things any more, so I'm excited to do so tomorrow.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A good example of life when I live at home with my mom. The ironic part: My dad's name is Carl.

Of the fights that I started, most were about how my mom put my food/ketchup/whatever in the wrong spot on my plate. Sometimes I would be so angry I wouldn't eat dinner. It wasn't until college when someone asked me why she just didn't let me do it myself. Common sense really right? Yes, but I'm ultimately lazy and there probably was JUST enough food cooked for us all and she had to portion it out correctly...I'm not sure. What I want to know is, why didn't she ask me first where I wanted it.

See, the problem (if you want to call it a problem, I call it an adorable quirk), is that I picture things in my head really really well, and then expect them to be like that in real life. So if I'm making two identical sandwiches for me and Josh, one is mine, and if he isn't thinking and grabs that one and eats it, the other one is tainted and does not taste as good to me. Things go in a very specific place on my plate, but I can't tell you where that is because I don't know until I see the food, see the plate, and look deep inside myself for the proper place. I feel where it should go. I feel which piece of food I should eat. I feel, in my heart, all of these things, and it's very very upsetting to me if it gets messed up. I have a very hard time eating at family style restaurants and avoid them at all costs if I can. I DO NOT SHARE MY FOOD, unless I choose to on my own without people asking or influencing me. If I decide to share it, then I really do want to, and do not mind in the least if you take me up on the offer. Luckily Josh understands this and is very patient with me and allows me to pick which sandwich I want and is actively precise at dividing things equally in half. To repay his kindness, I usually give him whatever I feel is the better half or piece.

This also carries over to bagging groceries and packing things.

Once in college, there was this boy douchebag, and we were sort of interested in each other. Really he was interested in getting a girlfriend of any kind and I was interested in making out. But he was also a douchebag (hence the lack of girlfriends) and the most emotional crazy sad angry person I have ever met. Yay college! Right? Anyways, we were in the dinning commons with all of our friends (Josh included) and it was Tator Tot day!! Which doesn't happen very often and is always good when it does. So I had my Tots and was sooo happy, and the douchebag ate 3 of MY tator tots before we even sat down. I was so mad at him that I made sure to eat them all even though I was so incredibly stuffed and did not really want them any more.

Josh really likes that story. I tell it to him more as a warning than as a form of entertainment.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

This may be the nerdiest post I ever post...but it's going to be all about how much I L.O.V.E. the EPA Website. It's truly amazing. You go to the home page, you look around, clicking here, clicking there, discovering the blog, the Tribal Portal, the lists of different Acts and Laws regulated by the EPA. There is so much and before you know it you've fallen down the rabbit hole shouting:

"EeeePAhhhh! EeeePAhhh!"

Very similar to Grandpa in The Simpson's Movie...which if you haven't seen yet you should. Even Calvin's seen it and he doesn't watch movies.

I've been working on learning a specific Microsoft website hosting software (software that makes websites) and let me tell you, this EPA website is one mighty complex beast! The blog, Greenversations, is in part an internal blog and in part a business blog. That just means that part of it is written for people who are concerned with and frequent the EPA regularly (sort of a very specific brand of the public) (Business) and to help communication with in the EPA (internal).

In college I took an environmental geography (NOT geology) class that was by far the most annoying, interesting and blow off class I have ever taken. Everyday we learned about something different that made my undergrad adviser sooooo angry because it wasn't "real" science. All I know is that I got to find water with a stick, allowing me to check another life goal off the list. Anyways, one day two EPA representatives came and talked to us about chemicals and getting rid of them, illegal landfills, and which fish we should and should not eat. Hence why I do NOT eat bottom feeders, and maybe why southerners are so crazy? All that catfish? My dad caught a catfish once when we were all fishing. It was the first time any of us had ever seen a catfish, and let me tell you it was the freakiest and scariest and whiskery-est thing ever experienced by my family. We didn't eat it and I doubt any of us ever will.

Even though these visiting EPA people were from the government, I trusted them. I'm thinking the EPA is the black sheep of government programs. But it's not perfect, don't get me wrong. I have also experienced a bad EPA member, but he was a lawyer, so maybe that doesn't count?

Friday, July 9, 2010

There is an open casting call for Top Model in Nashville this weekend. You have to be at least 5'7" to attend. Poop on them is what I say.

This song just came on the episode I'm watching. I must admit, I saw something very very similar to this in real life. It was one of the best things that I've ever seen. I was in class with Dr. Craig, who is old old old and missing several of his side teeth. But he's very funny sometimes...when he makes fun of the students. The class was Broadcasting and Cable Law. Yeah, can you imagine anything more boring? I can, it was Broadcast History and New Media Technology, 3 hrs of taking notes from a single spaced typed of sheet of paper put on the projector. Anyways, we were in the Cable Law class talking about the FCC (because they are the ruler of TV laws) and for some reason Dr. Craig starts flickering the lights and then starts dancing across the front of the class room and singing a song in the same style as this Family Guy song. He was singing about Dr. Orlik mostly (the most boring man alive) and the FCC. It was wonderful.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I was thinking, every blog has a book. If you send me 10$ 30$ I'll print out some of my blog posts, add some pictures, hand sew it all together, add some cardboard covers, cover that with a cover, and mail it back to you.

Friends. Family. Following. World. Today is a big day. Today I went to Target to pick up my birth control after work. This is big because I actually remembered on time and didn't have to make Josh do it. Next, I still had one refill which I wasn't sure if I had or not...so that was very good.

This is the GREAT part.... Yaz now comes in a generic brand!!!! Do you know what that means? Do you? That means that I now pay $8.00 per month instead of $40.00 per month!!! O.M.G. That's $96 per year instead of $480 per year!

I was so excited I bought new lipgloss and mascara AND my favorite beer...Negra Modela. Okay, so I had picked those things out before I knew about the change, but now I could buy them guilt free!

Now, you ask, why would I want some lipgloss and mascara? Well, besides the fact that it's waaaaay past time for me to get some...I would like to improve my professional appearance. It's easier, I think, for me to look professional than for me to talk and act professional. Plus if I look the part, then maybe I can get away with mistakes in my acting the part. I even got a coupon for a haircutter and I asked the woman where I got the coupon if the haircutter is good or not. She says she doesn't know, but she's going to try her...she also says the haircutter woman is a creative person. That's exactly what I need...creative. I want a more professional haircut than my long "immature" one I have now. It's long and straight and I have bangs. I was going for that look...the natural one...but I don't think it is helping me look older. I think older would help me at my professionalism as well because I am very young and "immature" at work. Finally, to improve my professional appearance, I am going to invest money into three outfits. I may look at Tim Gunn's list of 10 items every woman should own because I trust him more than I trust anyone on TV. He's definitely on my list of favorite famous people.

Here is what Tim says on jeans:

Jeans - Everyone has a pair of jeans, but does everyone have a pair of jeans that make them look great? The wider leg, low-rise jean style has been popular (and still is) but a narrower leg is coming back along with a higher waist, which eliminates the unflattering "muffin top" look.

Notice where he mentions the Muffin Top and then notice where he says Higher Waist.... Yes the Higher Waist eliminates the Muffin Top, but it also runs the very great risk of Mom Jeans or the FUPA. I'd rather have a muffin top than the Mom Jeans look and especially a FUPA. (FUPA: Fat Upper Pussy Area). You just gotta be careful!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I've been reading up a lot on how to write/run a business blog at work and not a lot of it carries over to a personal blog like this. One thing I did want to do was focus my updates more and maybe have a series or something. But that requires time and effort and so far both have been lacking. It seems that I'm gone every other week and every weekend since the end of April (okay it's a fact, I have been), and so all I update are recaps of what I've done. I'm ready to move on. So be looking forward to some well crafted pieces on feminist views, environmental views, and my own views.

I am the weakest and heaviest I have ever been in my whole life. I look back at the person I was before Vandy and that damn Thesis and she no longer exists I don't think, and that makes me sad.

I am lifting weights at work now, every other day, 10 lbs (weak...two months ago I was doing 25 lbs) with lots of reps (and it gets me out of breath), and then I walk one mile around the parking lot. I got a cramp from walking yesterday. Once I get my shiza together and clean my apartment and do something about all that litter from Ackbar, I'm going to bring in my workout clothes and step it up from the walking. Next month Josh has a 7:30 am class, and to be fair to him, I'm planning on getting up with him and going into work early so I can workout before work too.

I also wanted to try to be more active at night with Josh but it just doesn't work out that way. There is always stuff to do instead, or I fall asleep at 8:30. Did I mention that I lose ALL of my energy around 5:30? None left what-so-ever, I can't even stand up any more after that.

So these are my goals. For things to be opposite of what they are now.